Building San Antonio

:
March 1, 2013

I grew up in the small West Texas town of Monahans. The nearest superstore, movie theater and department store were more than 40 miles away. From a kid's perspective, living in a small town had some definite drawbacks.

However, in hindsight, there were some great lessons that can be drawn from the experience.

Community support: My entire grade level in school included about 180 kids. These 179 youths and I shared the same classrooms for 13 years. Our small classes of 15 to 20 students fostered a wonderful camaraderie between classmates and between students and teachers. This kind of close-knit environment made it difficult for kids to slip through the cracks.

Community connections: My community was walkable. Riding your bike to school or to the convenience store to pick up a gallon of milk and a pack of Garbage Pail Kids was the norm. Walking to the park, the tennis courts or to the city swimming pool to meet friends was how you filled up your summer days.

My mother's morning commute took all of five minutes. She was able to spend time with the family in the evenings rather than on the road battling rush-hour traffic. I've always thought my mother was the most calm, patient person I've ever known. Perhaps it is because she never had to endure U.S. 281 construction traffic.

Community involvement: The two parks, one-room civic center – The Coliseum — and library acted as community centers of activity. The town folk would join together to watch elementary school one-act productions in the amphitheater at the park or pay $2 per plate to support the band boosters at the annual pancake supper and cake walk at The Coliseum.

The library was a place that could be enjoyed by people of all ages and all interests.

My family would go to the library together. I would check out the latest Bluebonnet books, and my sister always checked out the book on how to clean your room, insisting on having the book before she could tackle the task. My mom would look for best-selling Westerns, and my dad would peruse the how-to section.

As an architect and community resident, the lessons I learned by growing up in a small community play an important part in the way that I choose to participate and contribute to my community. As a city that has been fortunate enough to survive, and even prosper through the economic crisis of the past years, San Antonio is in a position to continue to grow.

It is important for us to keep the lessons of small-town living in mind and apply them as we make decisions about the manner in which our community grows, i.e., are we going to continue to spread out, or are we going to focus our growth in patterns that can better support our community?

The way in which we develop our built environment plays a major role in how we learn, how we spend our time and how we interact as a community.

Sara Flowers is a LEED Green Associate and architect with OCO Architects.